Hey, this is the Daily Overpass, my name is Eric and I make apps!
Now today I wanna talk about why I hate work anniversaries!
So last Thursday I got a whole bunch of message on LinkedIn which said 'Happy Work Anniversary',
'Hey!
Happy Work Anniversary, Eric', 'Eric, you've been at Overpass 14 years, happy work anniversary!',
which, if you use LinkedIn, you know that that's kind of a LinkedIn thing.
You go to the homepage and you have lots of contacts, it'll say 'hey, today it's Eric's
work anniversary, wish him a happy work anniversary', and it's kind of a brilliant thing that LinkedIn
does, because it helps you keep in contact with your contacts, it gives you something
to say - 'happy work anniversary'.
Except, I'm not a big fan of the work anniversary!
First of all, it's not a real thing.
It's not like a birthday or a wedding anniversary or something like that.
It's just you've been in the same job for ages.
And it kind of depends on whether or not you like your job.
Like, there was a time that if you told me 'happy work anniversary', I would've just
gotten very depressed and angry.
There's been jobs I've had in the past where if you came up to me and said 'hey Eric, you've
been here 3 years, happy work anniversary', and in my head I would've thought 'oh my god,
three years!
I've been here three years!
This is the year I told myself I would leave.
When I got to two years I told myself this is it, last year!
I'm gonna find a new job, I'm gonna do something else, I'm gonna move on with the big picture
in my life.
But I realise I've been falling asleep at the wheel.
I've been so preoccupied with day to day activity, the urgent stuff, that I've taken my eye off
the big picture and another year has gone by and I'm still here!'.
And all this kind of stuff goes through your head like 'oh my god, it's been three years,
what am I doing with my life?!', and they're still standing there looking at you with a
big smile saying 'hey, happy work anniversary'.
so, it all depends.
The work anniversary depends on whether or not you like that kind of thing.
If that's their plan, like 'I wanna be at this company for the next 20 years', then
a work anniversary is a great thing!
Hey, you're one year closer, right?!
But for me, I've never wanted to be anywhere for 20 years.
In fact, when Overpass get's to 20 years old, I might have to change the name, just so I
don't have people saying 'hey, happy 20 years at Overpass'.
It's just a thing, a psychological thing.
And by the way, when they say happy 14 years at Overpass, I have to qualify that with the
fact that I've only been working full-time on this for the last five years, because before
that it was a lot of - I'll go off, I'll do Overpass for a little bit, then the money
will run out, I'll go back into the corporate culture, and then I'll come back out again,
then I'll try...it was like getting in and out of the pool kind of thing.
So what I think the work anniversary should be - it should be more like when I tell my
kids they've been in the bathtub too long.
I'll say 'hey, you've been in there 15 minutes, if that's part of the plan - cool, but if
not, you need to wrap things up and get out of there.
I think that's what the work anniversary should be.
It should be 'hey, time is going by, you've been there another year, have a look at your
life, have a look at your career.
If you have those big plans and you've been putting them on the back burner for too long,
now is the time to look into it', and that's the way I've always looked at it.
The work anniversary seems to be like hey, you know what?
Your whole career and everything, if this is where you see yourself finishing...if a
interviewer asks you where you see yourself in 5 years and you say here, in this place,
doing this one thing, then happy work anniversary!
If not, you need to start looking at things!
So anyway, let me know what you guys think!
Am I just too cynical about this?
I might be!
Because it's a really nice sentiment I realise, but work anniversary - that's a LinkedIn thing.
So let me know what you guys think.
Do you like it when someone says happy work anniversary?
And that's it for today, if it is your work anniversary today - happy work anniversary!
That's it for today, I'll talk to you guys again tomorrow!